Parish Church

in the service of inquiry

The following was written by theologian LeRon Shults, and was sent out in today’s Emergent/C (the newsletter of emergent). “The coordinators of Emergent have often been asked (usually by their critics) to proffer a doctrinal statement that lays out clearly

Dwight J. Friesen May 4, 2006May 8, 2022

holy saturday

This morning the thought struck me afresh that Holy Saturday is the Sabbath; Christ’s day in the tomb was the day of rest. The thought took me back to the late Alan Lewis’ wonderful book, Between Cross & Resurrection: A

Dwight J. Friesen April 15, 2006May 8, 2022

lausanne movement

I just received word that I’ll have the privilege and responsibility being one of the North American representatives at the Younger Leaders Gathering ’06 (mid 30’s and younger) sponsored by the Lausanne Movement. This gathering of 550 emerging leaderes from

Dwight J. Friesen April 13, 2006January 14, 2021

we know more than our pastors

“We Know More Than Our Pastors” by Tim Bedner. peace, dwight

Dwight J. Friesen January 13, 2006May 10, 2022

Some of Quest’s Questions

How will we be now? How can we better meet the needs of those in our community? Where is our passion and life? Where is God in this community and in myself? Gifts, hearts… How do we become more connected

Dwight J. Friesen November 27, 2005September 29, 2022

some themes from our questions

Common themes: Community – longing for and desire to extend it How questions? …More active than reflective Living Christ in Relationship Grow Outward Desire: reveal our hearts , to know and be known, for more Not looking for this community

Dwight J. Friesen November 27, 2005January 14, 2021

what might be God’s wisdom for us?

What is the God’s Wisdom for us? Where are the passions and life . . . A heartbeat, coming together Reminder and helping each other remember that God loves us People who are questing Tangents Seeing where God is moving

Dwight J. Friesen November 27, 2005May 9, 2022

Extra Notes from Discernment Day

The other day our Quest community invested some imaginational energy exploring possible pathways to even richer communal expression, even more faithful presence with the Divine, one another, our neighbors, creation, and ourselves. The following are just some of the thoughts.

Dwight J. Friesen November 27, 2005June 9, 2022

Summarizing Our Questions

As part of our recent retreat a group of us explored some questions that may help us discover our future. Here are a few of them: How could we experiment in using our gifts and passions to more fully live

Dwight J. Friesen November 27, 2005September 29, 2022

Seed Story @ the Ooze

Duncan Macleod of Postkiwi.com re-posted a short excerpt from a “Seed Story” conversation I had with Spencer Burke of The Ooze. In the interview I offer a glimpse into my leadership struggle of dying to my “vision,” in hope of

Dwight J. Friesen November 18, 2005January 18, 2021

Dancing to a New Rhythm

Dear friends, I am writing this as I reflect back on our gathering this past Sunday night. It was a “family time” for thoughtful consideration of how we might morph our structured times together to continue to be more and

Dwight J. Friesen October 14, 2005October 3, 2022

playing tag

I’ve been picturing a group of neighborhood kids playing tag in the backyard when all of a sudden one of the kids sees something in a tree. She stops playing the game as it has been played and goes over

Dwight J. Friesen September 18, 2005May 10, 2022

house church land usage

Until recently I was building a new deck on my home (a gorgeous deck plan). Well, the other day there was a knock on our door and a Bellevue City Code Enforcer greeted me. He informed me that we had

Dwight J. Friesen September 2, 2005October 3, 2022

a questioning faith

My son is four years and he asks a lot of questions. On our drive home from our celebration of my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary Pascal was in exceptional question asking mode. Dallas & Leanne were driving down with us

Dwight J. Friesen August 22, 2005August 31, 2022

welcome

Welcome to quest’s new discussion space. peace, dwight

Dwight J. Friesen August 22, 2005May 5, 2022

how the “little” can defeat the “big” . . . at least sometimes

Part 1 Part 2 Marshall Ganz, Ever wonder “Why David Sometimes Wins.“ Marshall Ganz has written an outstanding paper addressing David’s unlikely victory and the idea of strategic capacity in social movements. Dr. Ganz also is part of the team

Dwight J. Friesen July 30, 2005September 30, 2022

emergent church covered on pbs

Religion & Ethics on PBS did a story on the Emergent Church, part one, part two & video extras (“what is the emerging church?”). peace, dwight

Dwight J. Friesen July 15, 2005November 15, 2020

Social-Evangelicals

A comment in a student’s paper this Spring has been lingering in the back of my mind. Dale Helt re-framed the classic Evangelical litmus-test question by exchanging the word “personal” for “communal.” The question, as he voiced it was, “Do

Dwight J. Friesen July 7, 2005January 14, 2021

Faith Stuff in Seattle

Seattle’s Fremont Solstice parade/festival was this past weekend. Rachelle and her neo-monastic community monkfish abbey (formerly known as ThPM) participated in the parade as a funky recycling deally. As they wove through the crowd of parade-onlookers they gathered trash embodying an exuberance

Dwight J. Friesen June 20, 2005January 14, 2021

Missional Consultation

Here is Alan Roxburgh’s report on the report on “Forming Leaders for the Missional/emerging Church consultation which took place in April. The event was sponsored by Fuller/Allelon and brought together 40 leaders from USA, Canada, UK, New Zealand and Australia.

Dwight J. Friesen June 19, 2005October 3, 2022

Paradigms

I you have visited my site before you will know that I am in the process of constructing a more relational theology. Thomas Kuhn (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions) has helped us to see that anytime the is a paradigm

Dwight J. Friesen June 10, 2005September 20, 2022

soft differnce: church/culture

When I first encountered Miroslav Volf and his theological work I was elated. I found myself sharing his books with anyone around who would lend me their ear even if just for a moment. Needless to say I don’t agree with

Dwight J. Friesen June 10, 2005September 20, 2022

hosting an open table

One of my favorite books of 2003 was Conrad Gempf’s Jesus Asked. Gempf’s new book is titled, Mealtime habits of the Messiah: 40 encounters with Jesus. It is a glorious journey through Christ’s radically open table (though of course is

Dwight J. Friesen June 9, 2005May 8, 2022

evangelism . . . being yourself?

Jim Henderson, Seattle-area evangelism guru, friend and director of Off-the-Map (not the Muppet guy – that was “Henson”) has a new book coming out on June 21st: a. k. a. “Lost”: discovering ways to connect with the people Jesus misses

Dwight J. Friesen June 1, 2005October 4, 2022

Connecting Weekend

Lynette, Pascal and I invite you to spend a weekend with them our home. Spend time talking and sharing lives, discussing relational ministry and relational church-planting. And spend time with their Christ-commons (Quest). Connecting weekends are a great retreat and stimulus

Dwight J. Friesen June 1, 2005January 14, 2021

Episcopal Voicing of the Emerging Church

Reporter, Peter Strimer for the Episcopal Voice wrote “The Emerging Church” (June 2005) after visiting the “mission_shaped_church” learning party sponsored by Karen Ward and COTA. The article has a great cover photo of Ryan Marsh. And there’s a “dwight-quote” on

Dwight J. Friesen May 28, 2005January 14, 2021

dwight j. friesen